Sinopec lifts China H-shares, cuts their weekly losses

Redacción de Reuters

2 MIN. DE LECTURA

HONG KONG, March 7 (Reuters) - Strength in Sinopec Corp lifted Hong Kong-listings of China firms on Friday, trimming their weekly losses, on hopes that the Chinese oil giant’s proposed sale of a stake in its retail business will attract private international investors.

The Hang Seng Index finished down 0.2 percent at 22,660.5 points for the day and 0.8 percent this week. The China Enterprises Index of the leading offshore Chinese listings in Hong Kong rose 0.4 percent on Friday and sank 1.8 percent on the week.

Sinopec, Asia’s largest oil refiner, last month announced plans to sell up to 30 percent of its retail oil business to private investors in a multibillion dollar restructuring aimed at boosting the value of its sprawling downstream arm.

The move was seen as the first concrete sign of ownership reforms at China’s state-owned enterprises. Sinopec president Fu Chengyu told state broadcaster CCTV on Thursday that the proposed stake sale would likely involve private international investors. Sinopec shares

China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinopec) H-shares spiked 4.6 percent on the day and 2.5 percent on the week to hit its highest closing level since February 2013.